Biography Performers

Mitteleuropa Orchestra

The Mitteleuropa Orchestra, which has its roots in the musical tradition of the area ofcentral and southern Europe, is the product of many decades of orchestral experience. In the early 2000s it found its institutional place thanks to the intervention of the Regional Administration of Friuli Venezia Giulia, and the support of the Municipalities and Provinces of the Region.

It currently boasts 47 permanent orchestra members and a solid autonomous organization; its headquarters are in Palmanova at the Loggia della Gran Guardia, a historical building dating from the 1500s that overlooks the splendid main square of this star-shaped city.

The Chief Conductor of the Orchestra, since January 2017, is the Maestro Marco Guidarini. His repertoire, as an indication of his great versatility, ranges from Baroque to Contemporary Music, and genres from classical musicto crossover.

The Mitteleuropa Orchestra performs in different formations, ranging from symphonicto symphonic-choral orchestral formations, with string orchestra, wind orchestra, and chamber ensembles. It has received significant public andcritical acclaimthroughout Italy and abroad, in France, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, and Albania. It has also been hosted at numerous international events, from the International Festival of Contemporary Music of the Venice Biennale to the Mittelfest, from the Pordenone Silent Film Festival, to the concert for the beatification of Pope John Paul II and to the international Festival of Lubiana.

In 2018 the Orchestra is the protagonist with the famous pianist Vincenzo Maltempo in the recording of a double CD of Brahms, produced by 2R productions, for the prestigious Piano Classics.

In the Region, it collaborates with the Ente Regionale Teatrale on an important project of musical enhancement that covers the entire territory of Friuli Venezia Giulia; moreover together with the Italian Healthcare Agency it has programmed relevant interdisciplinary projects based on social inclusion through music and other innovative activities, specifically targeted to young audiences and to schools. The Mitteleuropa Orchestra is supported and financed by the Regional Administration of Friuli Venezia Giulia and to the partnership with the Friuli Foundation. Since 2015 it has programmed its own concert season at the Gustavo Modena theatre in Palmanova.

Giovanni Pacor

He began studying the violin in Trieste, and gained his diploma in 1980. He then took his musical education further, specialising in orchestra conducting at the Vienna Music Academy, under the guidance of Karl Österreicher. At the same time he played first violin at Vienna’s Baden Stadttheater, and continued his specialisation in orchestra conducting under Franco Ferrara. In 1985 he graduated in Vienna in orchestra conducting, obtaining maximum marks; the following year he received his diploma in chorus conducting from the B. Marcello Conservatory in Venice.
In 1986 he was invited to take the role of music director at the Budapest Chamber Orchestra, a position he held until 1992. With this Orchestra he gave over 150 concerts throughout Europe, with soloists including Jean-Pierre Rampal, Nina Belina, Cecilia Gasdia, Andras Adorian, as well as the Jess Trio Wien.
The year 1991 saw the beginning of his collaboration with Spoleto’s ‘A. Belli’ Teatro Lirico Sperimentale, as music consultant and orchestra conductor. During the same period he conducted a series of concerts at the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, with the Chamber Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di S. Cecilia. From 1993 until 1998 he was chief director, later also music director, of the Klagenfurt Stadttheater. In 1994 he was invited by Fabio Luisi to the Festival of Bregenz, where he conducted Zandonai‘s Francesca da Rimini.
In Milan he directed the Pomeriggi Musicali orchestra, and in Florence the Camerata Fiorentina.
From 1996 to 2002 he took the role of artistic secretary of the Fondazione Teatro Verdi in Trieste. From September 2002 until 2007 he was artistic coordinator of the Fondazione Arena di Verona.
He has also acted as panel member for various international opera competitions, in Spoleto, Belvedere in Vienna, Zandonai in Rovereto, Mario del Monaco in Marsala, Vishnevskaja in Moscow, Callas in Athens, and Viotti in Vercelli.
In addition, he has conducted the Hungarian State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Baden-Württemberg Orchestra in Stuttgart, Vienna’s Niederösterreich Tonkünstler Orchester, the Symphony Orchestra of Oviedo, the Symphony Orchestra of Riga, and the Symphony Orchestra of Regensburg.
He began in 1998 as music consultant at the European Opera Centre in Manchester, with whom during two European tours he conducted Mozart’s Lucio Silla at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen; as well as Rossini’s La Scala di Seta and Cimarosa’s Maestro di Cappella at the 2000 ‘Tibor Varga’ Festival in Switzerland.
In 2002 he directed a new production of La Bohème at Salerno’s Municipal Theatre.
In January 2003 he conducted Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore at the Graz Opernhaus, and in October of the same year the new production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale. In 2007 he conducted Donizetti’s Emilia di Liverpool, marking the 850th anniversary of the city, that year European Capital of Culture.
In 2008 he participated in the Tenerife Festival, conducting both Rossini’s Il Signor Bruschino and Donizetti’s Il Campanello.
From 2008 to 2010 he had the role of superintendent of the Greek National Opera in Athens, where one of the operas he directed was a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss.
From July 2010 until 2014 he worked as superintendent of the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. He translated into Italian for the first-ever time Leopold Mozart’s Scuola di Violino for Ut Orpheus publishing house in Bologna; also his work is the new rhythmic version of Viennese Blood by Johann Strauss, for Weinberger-London/Suvini Zerboni-Milan.
He has recorded three CDs for Koch with the Budapest Chamber Orchestra. One of these (Schubert-Mahler, Der Tod und das Mädchen) won him the prize for best recording of the year.
His orchestral repertoire includes 43 operas, ranging from Mozart to Richard Strauss. His symphony/concert repertoire begins at Budapest Chamber Orchestra, followed by major symphony and orchestra institutions throughout Europe, covering neoclassical works through to contemporary.